One novel virus, different beliefs as playmakers toward disease spread in Africa: looking at COVID-19 from a religious lens

Abstract

Religious and spiritual observances that draw large people together are pervasive in many parts of the world, including Africa. With the recent emergence of COVID-19, these mass religious gatherings may pose significant threats to human health. Given the compromised healthcare systems in many parts of Africa, faith-based institutions have a huge responsibility towards the management of the potential spread of the virus through effective organizational strategies or interventions. This essay sheds light on what the novel virus has to do with religion, the role of religious practices in inhibiting or spreading COVID-19, and what appropriate evidence-based interventions religious or faith-based organizations could adopt to help prevent the spread of the disease in Africa through a unity of thoughts for religious action.

Religious practice in the pandemic of COVID‐19 and the nursing diagnoses

“…Although religious leaders adapt to maintaining collective religious practices using electronic communication channels, such as radio broadcasting and other innovative technologies such as videos, virtual conferences, online broadcast sermons and prayers, religious followers in Brazil find it difficult to maintain the usual practice by these means (Ameyaw et al., 2020; Barmania, 2021a, 2021b; Frei‐Landau, 2020). In some countries, there is experience of implementing actions such as telephone calls by health professionals and religious leaders with the objective of analyzing people at high risk of negative impacts on mental health, for referrals to specialized services, and also religious support using prayer (Galiatsatos et al., 2020; Ribeiro et al., 2020).…”

“…The link between religious leaders/religious institutions/religious communities, health authorities, and health professionals has extreme relevance to contain emergencies in the field of public and collective health, and plays an important role in the prevention and protection of the population in relation to coronavirus (Ameyaw et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2020). Communication must be effective and act to promote health education; otherwise the population will be at risk, as they will hardly comply with measures to contain the spread of coronavirus (Barmania, 2021a).…”